A letter from Ingrid Reneau in Sudan
October 7, 2008
Dear Friends,
Though I have been working in donor relations lately, my energy is devoted to seeking new donors and partners for educational projects: school buildings (because so many schools still meet under trees) and other educational projects, one of which is to revitalize adult literacy projects. Indeed, while there is breath in my body, I will be in education, for it is one of my sources of joy and strength. Here in southern Sudan, education includes theological and pedagogical training and basic English. These inevitably come together in the classroom. Thus, I eagerly anticipate being in Leer again in November for what may be our last intensive English training there for awhile; then possibly onto to Adol for more teachers’ training.
Prior to my leave in August, I taught on the “Grace of God” at a church empowerment workshop in Boma, and it was pure joy to do so. Across’ Church Empowerment Coordinator, Rev. Elly, conducted a weeklong workshop on the “High and Exalted God” for Murle and Jiye pastors and evangelists. He asked me to teach and give the closing address, which included answering practical questions from the group of 35 young men and 1 woman on how to apply Scripture to daily living.
During the workshop, the Murle rose at 4:00 a.m. every morning to beat the drums and pray until 6:00! They do this in Boma, Pibor, Gummuruk and wherever the Word of God has taken root in their lives.
The Rev. John Okumu was returning from Pibor and surrounding Murle areas, where he’d gone to “seal” the peace initiative between the Murle and the Dinka Bor. He stayed overnight in Juba with us and recounted a story about these “hostile” Murle: After having their cattle raided by one group of Nuer, while another Nuer group from the same area was buying cattle in another village, the Murle escorted the group buying cattle safely to the same village from which the raiders had come. The Nuer were surprised the Murle did not kill them in revenge for the raiding; instead, the Murle told them, “No, we will take you and the cattle you bought from us back to your village; then, we will come and fight all of you together!”
After the Murle safely returned the Nuer with the cows they’d purchased, these Nuer chastised the ones who had done the raid, saying, “We could have been killed because of what you did! But look at the Murle! They did not kill us! They only fight because of what we do to them. See, they returned us home, with the cattle we bought, but now they will come and fight us here. We need to give them back the cows we’ve raided. ”And this is exactly what happened: more than half the cattle the Nuer had raided from the Murle were returned to them!
Rev. Okumu said the Dinka Bor were shocked and pleased to see how open the Murle leaders were to worship with them, their arch enemy! In obedience to the Word of God that they have already in their lives, the Murle are changing and are willing to enter into their enemy’s territory to “seal” their commitment to living peaceably with them. Rev. Okumu said that other tribes note that when the Murle make a peace agreement, they are never the ones to break it! In future peace and reconciliation meetings, the Nuer and the Anuaks clearly must be included.
I pray ardently that we continue building on what has begun amongst the Murle. May we invest in establishing the presence of Christ amongst this proud, warrior people. We have a critical role to play, but we need financial support to make more workshops available. We need to offer more basic English trainings in Boma, Pibor, and surrounding areas, where the majority of teachers are Arabic pattern trained.
May we build in such a way that enhances not only the spiritual life of the Murle, but their living environment as well. We need more permanent training structures, as our workshop classroom was the men’s dorm, and 37 of us crowded into the little room.
We would have used the training room, but it was being used by 60 Level 1 students who came every day, some more for the food than the studies. For the past year or so, the local primary school has been undergoing repairs. Thus, students as young as 7 and 8 and as old as 30 or 40 came to the Across training center for Level 1 classes and for the porridge in the morning and lentils and rice at lunch time. Food is supplied by World Food. With more than 60 students in this room, when the sun is directly over head, and there is no ceiling board, the heat is unbearable.
I pray you continue to support us to always do more and better, so that we can really bear evidence to our commitment to building the church in southern Sudan, while we have the time and peace in which to do so, amen.
Ingrid
The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 10
